Well rumours are that either Matt or Chris, or both will go as they cannot get along.

I don't think that would hurt the show all that much to be honest. In Chris Harris and Rory Reid they have two very talented presenters who could lead the show. The fact they are relatively unknown may actually help the show appeal to the viewers that see Evans as the anti-Christ. Or rather anti-Clarkson.

Last edited by Black_Flag_11 on Mon Jun 27, 2016 10:37 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Well rumours are that either Matt or Chris, or both will go as they cannot get along.

I don't think that would hurt the show all that much to be honest. In Chris Harris and Rory Reid they have two very talented presenters who could lead the show. The fact they are relatively unknown may actually help the show appeal to the viewers that see Evan's as the anti-Christ. Or rather anti-Clarkson.

The more the show goes on, the more Chris Evans is the weakest link. No matter how much of a petrol head he is, he just can't seem to get away from his natural way of presenting (don't forget your toothbrush/TFI Friday style) which doesn't really work here.

_________________There is no theory of evolution, just a list of animals that Chuck Norris allows to live.

Well rumours are that either Matt or Chris, or both will go as they cannot get along.

I don't think that would hurt the show all that much to be honest. In Chris Harris and Rory Reid they have two very talented presenters who could lead the show. The fact they are relatively unknown may actually help the show appeal to the viewers that see Evan's as the anti-Christ. Or rather anti-Clarkson.

The more the show goes on, the more Chris Evans is the weakest link. No matter how much of a petrol head he is, he just can't seem to get away from his natural way of presenting (don't forget your toothbrush/TFI Friday style) which doesn't really work here.

They have way too many presenters, I can´t even remember the names of them all. I´d keep Matt, Sabine and Eddie and drop the rest.

Well rumours are that either Matt or Chris, or both will go as they cannot get along.

I don't think that would hurt the show all that much to be honest. In Chris Harris and Rory Reid they have two very talented presenters who could lead the show. The fact they are relatively unknown may actually help the show appeal to the viewers that see Evan's as the anti-Christ. Or rather anti-Clarkson.

The more the show goes on, the more Chris Evans is the weakest link. No matter how much of a petrol head he is, he just can't seem to get away from his natural way of presenting (don't forget your toothbrush/TFI Friday style) which doesn't really work here.

They have way too many presenters, I can´t even remember the names of them all. I´d keep Matt, Sabine and Eddie and drop the rest.

Yup saw that, I didn't mind him but after Eddie he was my next choice to go so I'm not too fussed.

Move Chris and Rory up to main presenter positions and the show should be fine.

On a side note I thought last nights episode was a bit meh, I also didn't realise it was only a 6 episode series! I thought the first and final episodes were ok but nothing special, the 4 in between were great.

Yay Chris Evans is gone! After the first two episodes I hadn't bothered to watch each episode for up to 2 weeks at a time. Simply couldn't stand Evans and he drove me away. Haven't watched this week's yet, but I'm on nights so I probably will tomorrow.

Ok so I haven't gotten to see the final episode yet, foxtel hasn't put it up on anytime. They have run a few replays though but who still watched live broadcasts of pre-recorded shows? Ain't nobody got time for that.

I can only assume the ratings were that low that they consider it a waste on their server to have it on anytime

Want to watch this, it should be great. But I'm not going to support Amazon prime on principle alone. I'm sick of every channel and production company thinking that they can create their own streaming services and lock all of their content behind varied and disparate pay walls. That's not how this is meant to work. Two or three services focussing on different media is fine, this game they're currently playing isn't .

Just watched it and overall it was pretty good, the opening montage was just fantastic, couple of LOL moments, some stupid and some slightly boring bits during the show. Testing the McLaren P1 against the Porsche 918 and the Ferrari La Ferrari in the first show was pretty cool if not very scientifically done.

Want to watch this, it should be great. But I'm not going to support Amazon prime on principle alone. I'm sick of every channel and production company thinking that they can create their own streaming services and lock all of their content behind varied and disparate pay walls. That's not how this is meant to work. Two or three services focussing on different media is fine, this game they're currently playing isn't .

Don't get me wrong, I don't like the idea of the paywalls guarding content, and the idea of having to pay a subscription to get one show you like clearly is an expensive option. But I don't think there is really a case for a moral high ground principle for being against the idea.

Ultimately, Amazon has commissioned the show (or bid the highest for it) so they get the right to choose how they distribute it. It's no different to having a paid TV service with Sky (well, I'd argue it's better because it's a lot cheaper and it's on demand, on multiple devices and in 4K with global, not regional, distrubtion in most cases)

I can see a moral high ground argument about not getting Sky Sports F1 because you don't want to support Rupert Murdoch, but not against Sky Sports for putting F1 behind a paywall. I think it sucks, but we don't have a divine right to see this. And I would agree that F1 has a large enough market and is important to the UK industry and culture that it is justified for the BBC to pay license fee money on it, however there is only so much license fee payer's money - which is going down as more and more people stop watching live TV/iPlayer - and F1 was almost certainly the most expensive sport per viewer for them to produce, as every race is in a different country and the races are spread out across the year. Something like Wimbledon is in one post code and over in 2 weeks.

The Top Gear / Grand Tour argument is no different. The BBC let Clarkson go - which as a publicly financed company it really had no other choice - and ITV/Channel 4/Channel 5 couldn't afford it. Amazon may have a smaller audience in the UK relative to those channels - however Amazon is global. And Top Gear is a niche product. It may be a very popular niche product, but instead of having to appeal for the niche demographic in one country and then include superfluous content for the casual fans. Amazon can market to a smaller percentage per country, but a bigger audience globally with more aligned interests. It could result in the show being better for it, but the first show just looked like Clarkson's Top Gear with more money, and new lease of life after having a break from it.

I'm not really a fan of Amazon, or even this business model (particularly the Netflix style trap of 'one month free but you have to provide your credit card details and if you forget to cancel which you probably will then we'll get your money') however, living with a housemate who does have Netflix and Amazon Prime and having used them, I would certainly sign up to them rather than sign up to Sky. It frees up your schedule, as you can watch when you want to watch rather than 'when it's on' and you get no adverts.

I enjoyed it and like biffa said, the opening montage was great, cheesey, but great.

I don't know why they bothered calling it The Grand Tour though, for the presenting style, studio style, show style, editing style, script style etc etc (you get the idea) they may as well have called it Toppester Gear. They've ripped their Top Gear format so much that if they got around copyright and trademark violations with all that, they probably could've taken liberties with the name too

_________________There is no theory of evolution, just a list of animals that Chuck Norris allows to live.

I enjoyed it and like biffa said, the opening montage was great, cheesey, but great.

I don't know why they bothered calling it The Grand Tour though, for the presenting style, studio style, show style, editing style, script style etc etc (you get the idea) they may as well have called it Toppester Gear. They've ripped their Top Gear format so much that if they got around copyright and trademark violations with all that, they probably could've taken liberties with the name too

I liked it. A lot reminded me of the Top Gear, but it was actually far from it. To me it felt a bit of an introduction rather than an episode, letting us know what the new track is, etc.

I found myself waiting for the Stig though... Ok, they had the American and also Jerome D'A. But they will not be the regular drivers I take it.

Sorry to say I’ve pulled back a bit, I watched it again and also the second one and (other than the opening montage) found it kind of boring.

When they were on Top Gear they were obviously restricted and controlled by the rules of the very PC BBC, and so their non-PC and more crazy bits felt edgy and naughty, like they were sticking two fingers up to the establishment, which is what made it so good and endeared them to many people IMO. However, now that they can do anything they want it no longer feels edgy or naughty. And so far the set pieces seem self-indulgent and actually not very interesting, exciting or even good IMO.

If the rest of the season is in the same vein then I think interest might drop off.

I’m a big fan but I’m thinking maybe they should have piloted a couple of episodes to get viewer feedback before rolling out a season.

Certainly it’s not bad, there were a few laughs, but other than the opening montage, if those exact episodes were from Top Gear a few seasons ago, I’d say they were not the better ones.

I've just seen first episode and it wasn't very good. Opening sequence was good, studio/tent segments were good, but everything else felt boring. Test track seems terrible and it doesn't help that there are way too many cuts during hot laps.

_________________Get your facts first, then you can distort them as you please.Mark Twain

I'm hesitant to judge either of these shows. I mean, if you go back and watch Old Top Gear, with Tiff Needell, It was a bit spartan and dull unless you're very in to cars to the point you care about suspension stiffness. If I had seen just two episodes of that, or even the first series, I'd think it was extremely boring and probably go and watch Top of the Pops instead. And when they bought it back with the three presenter format, it took them a few series to get the ball rolling as well. There was a bit more humour in there but it still wasn't the greatest. Once they all gelled and developed their chemistry as presenters, it worked.

So I'm willing to give Top Gear another go. Chris Evans was by far the weak link, so having him gone means Rory, Chris and Matt can (hopefully) work well together and make an entertaining show. the "Extra" programme on the iPlayer with Chris and Rory as the main hosts was actually far better than the main show because of the lack of Evans, so I have hope. Star in a Rallycross car needs to go though. I swear for one episode it went on for about 20m, it's just too long for a bit that most people don't give a damn about.

I feel I should be more judgemental of the Grand Tour though. the presenters should know what they're doing, and so should the producer, but It doesn't work for me yet. To be fair, for a few years I thought Top Gear was past it's best and could do with a refresh or just stopping all together. I must say the last series or two was an improvement though. The first episode held my interest, mostly because of the Hybrid supercar segment, because I take quite an interest in those three cars and how they will change high performance vehicles in the future. But the tent segments seem even more scripted than before, and I can't help but think the old spark has gone. James doesn't seem to care any more, and Jeremy without the BBC holding him back is getting a little more unbearable each time I see him. Richard is trying, but trying too hard. The News was my favourite bit of Top Gear, as it let the three of them just be themselves and be naturally funny, but they just aren't any more.

But the piece last week in Jordan was astronomically bad. I mean saying it was jumping the shark would be an insult to Happy Days, it was just so forced and faked and had absolutely nothing to do with cars or transport. and to think it would have been ludicrously expensive, too. Very glad they aren't on Taxpayer's money any more. Hopefully this is just them finding their feet, and I will most probably watch the rest of the series, but I can't help thinking the idea of new Top Gear (now without Evans) will be more refreshing and more pleasurable to watch.

I'm not sure about that Grand Tour. Yesterday I saw some 20 minutes of latest episode then I was interrupted and then whole day I wasn't bothered to watch the rest of the show. In Top Gear the audience was just background, here in Grand Tour they spend too much time pleasing them. It simply isn't good. The studio segments are simply bad talk show to please few people came there. The test track is bad with just weeds, ruins around it and it's very narrow. In Top Gear they have huge space around track and show cars from various angles and distances. I don't care if they have 5x cameras than TG around the track, when all I see are just some close ups. I just don't see the budget. They also have huge straight in TG, here they just drive in circles, hardly testing. The American is dull, everything else is too obviously scripted, what isn't necessary bad thing, but the script isn't funny at all. I haven't seen that TG with Chris Evans, but I might give the next season a chance, though I guess I will just move on and skip both shows.

edit: I had bad mood in the morning, but I still find some Top Gear episodes with trio much much better than Grand Tour. It's ok show, but I don't think I would watch it without knowing Top Gear.

_________________Get your facts first, then you can distort them as you please.Mark Twain

Just got around to watching the 2nd series of new new Top Gear and was surprised to find I really like it. I switched off after 10 minutes of watching Chris Evans last year, not because I don’t like him or anything but because it was all trying too hard, far too loud and in your face, plus the emulating Clarkson thing was just annoying.

I always thought Le Blanc was a good choice, and now things have settled down I think he’s doing a great job, maybe not totally comfortable in the studio but otherwise very good, easy to listen to and he doesn’t seem to have any affectations or annoying traits.

I watched all of The Grand Tour and was left disappointed so it’s good to see that TG has turned into a pretty decent car show.

I really like new top gear. New hosts seem to be more enthusiastic about cars than old trio and whole show seems to be less scripted than the grand tour. TGT had some good episodes, but many were just bad. New TG seems better show now.

_________________Get your facts first, then you can distort them as you please.Mark Twain